MEXICAN SOLDIERS CROSSING US BORDER...part 2
Proponents of tighter border measures in the United States have been complaining for several years about Mexican army and police incursions.
Only a few of the incidents have resulted in confrontations, but officials say they take the incursions seriously.
The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, of Ontario, Calif., touched off controversy a couple of weeks ago by citing what it said were U.S. Homeland Security Department figures showing Border Patrol agents reported spotting what appeared to be Mexican soldiers on U.S. soil 216 times since 1996.
T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, a union that represents 10,500 border agents, responded angrily to federal officials' downplaying of the incidents.
He noted one case in 2002 when a Border Patrol agent reported a Mexican military vehicle inside Arizona. To avoid a problem, the agent tried to drive away but said the Mexican soldiers fired at him, shattering his back window.
In another case in 2000, Border Patrol agents confronted two Mexican army Humvees a mile inside New Mexico. One of the vehicles stopped, but the soldiers in the other fled and fired two shots at the border agents. Mexican officials said later that the army units had been lost.
In other cases, Mexican soldiers said they believed the U.S. agents were actually in Mexican territory, although Bonner still questioned why they would open fire.
Michael Chertoff, U.S. Homeland Security secretary, has characterized the reports as "overblown" and "scare tactics" last week.
He said a number of incursions were "innocent" mistakes by Mexican soldiers who did not know they crossed the border, which is barely marked in more remote places.
For some Mexican analysts, the fact that drug traffickers can operate along the border in Mexican army uniforms, even if fake, raises disturbing questions by itself. "This is very serious, whether they were military or not, because someone should have detected them," said Jorge Chabat, an expert in border security issues and U.S.-Mexico relations.
Chabat and others noted that the military has been Mexico's primary instrument in combating drug trafficking and that the army has made most of the high-profile arrests of drug kingpins in recent years.
The army is seen as less corrupt and less corruptible than Mexico's civilian law enforcement agencies. But the army's role in the drug war inevitably has made it more vulnerable to being corrupted, and there have been several cases of soldiers being arrested for colluding with drug runners.
Only a few of the incidents have resulted in confrontations, but officials say they take the incursions seriously.
The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, of Ontario, Calif., touched off controversy a couple of weeks ago by citing what it said were U.S. Homeland Security Department figures showing Border Patrol agents reported spotting what appeared to be Mexican soldiers on U.S. soil 216 times since 1996.
T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, a union that represents 10,500 border agents, responded angrily to federal officials' downplaying of the incidents.
He noted one case in 2002 when a Border Patrol agent reported a Mexican military vehicle inside Arizona. To avoid a problem, the agent tried to drive away but said the Mexican soldiers fired at him, shattering his back window.
In another case in 2000, Border Patrol agents confronted two Mexican army Humvees a mile inside New Mexico. One of the vehicles stopped, but the soldiers in the other fled and fired two shots at the border agents. Mexican officials said later that the army units had been lost.
In other cases, Mexican soldiers said they believed the U.S. agents were actually in Mexican territory, although Bonner still questioned why they would open fire.
Michael Chertoff, U.S. Homeland Security secretary, has characterized the reports as "overblown" and "scare tactics" last week.
He said a number of incursions were "innocent" mistakes by Mexican soldiers who did not know they crossed the border, which is barely marked in more remote places.
For some Mexican analysts, the fact that drug traffickers can operate along the border in Mexican army uniforms, even if fake, raises disturbing questions by itself. "This is very serious, whether they were military or not, because someone should have detected them," said Jorge Chabat, an expert in border security issues and U.S.-Mexico relations.
Chabat and others noted that the military has been Mexico's primary instrument in combating drug trafficking and that the army has made most of the high-profile arrests of drug kingpins in recent years.
The army is seen as less corrupt and less corruptible than Mexico's civilian law enforcement agencies. But the army's role in the drug war inevitably has made it more vulnerable to being corrupted, and there have been several cases of soldiers being arrested for colluding with drug runners.
posted by loki at 9:55 AM
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